Power shortage worsens; 3rd unit at Talwandi Sabo working at 50% load

On Tuesday, the maximum power demand was 12,969 MW. There was a shortage of 775 MW during evening peak hours, leading to the imposition of power cuts for rural and small-town domestic consumers

Patiala The state’s acute power shortage got worse on Wednesday morning with the third unit of the Talwandi Sabo thermal plant developing a technical snag. The plant is now running at only half of its load at 335MW (mega watt).

High-tension power lines. The generation from private plants stands reduced to 2,175MW, against the installed capacity of 3,840 MW. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Responding to the development, where it has lost another 300MW, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has ordered another round of operational curbs on industry, already making do with two compulsory weekly-offs.

As far as the numbers are concerned, two units of 1,980MW thermal plants are already shut. One unit of the plant is down for the last four months, with the other unit tripping last week. The generation from private plants stands reduced to 2,175MW, against the installed capacity of 3,840 MW.

On Tuesday, the maximum power demand was 12,969 MW. There was a shortage of 775 MW during evening peak hours, leading to the imposition of power cuts for rural and small-town domestic consumers. The PSPCL supplied 3,006 lakh units of power, with thermal units supplying 944 lakh units.

ENGINEERS FACE THE HEAT

With the PSPCL resorting to massive load shedding due to the power shortage, engineers were left to face people’s wrath. Members of farm unions laid siege to the office of sub-divisional officer (SDO), suburban Maur, starting Tuesday noon. They were demanding three 10 KVA transformers, which were not available in storage room. Finally, the siege was lifted after a dozen engineers arrived at the spot around 1am on Wednesday.

At the Karamgarh grid in Barnala, a crowd of nearly 500 gathered, seeking the end of power cuts. “It has become difficult to serve in the field due to the shortage of material. Long power cuts have drawn the ire of people and engineers are the first and easy targets for them to vent their anger,” said Jasvir Singh Dhiman, president, PSEB Engineers Association.

PSPCL chairman and managing director A Venu Prasad has directed officials to take stock of units at Talwandi Sabo and ensure that they are operational at the earliest. The PSPCL is banking on the arrival of monsoon to ease the situation.